The coaching staff moved practice up by one hour today in hopes of avoiding the raindrops. That didn't happen, and the team played like a black cloud was hanging over its head, Mark Richt said.
"Practice I thought was pretty bad, considering we're five days away, last day in pads," Richt said. "We did move up practice to try to beat the weather forecast. We got out there and it rained pretty hard for about 10, 15 minutes, and I think the guys felt like any minute it was going to be over, and then it blew over, and it wasn't over, and I can only hope that was the reason they lost their edge. It looked like they lost their edge, which is sad to say."
On the upside, however, several players returned to action, including star running back Knowshon Moreno, who donned a red jersey during practice for the first time in nearly three weeks.
"Knowshon ditched the green jersey," Richt said. "It was not his call, but he's out of the green right now. No limitations."
Backup Caleb King also got back to practice today, and Richt said he saw no ill effects of the hamstring injury that had dogged the redshirt freshman throughout last week.
Linebackers Akeem Dent and Darius Dewberry remained in green, but participated in all but the heavy contact drills. Defensive ends Demarcus Dobbs and Jeremy Lomax also returned to practice, Richt said, and looked good.
Richt also said freshmen Walter Hill and Jeremy Longo, both of whom suffered broken hands, were "clubbed up" and returned to drills.
Richt said he has settled on his starters for Week 1's game against Georgia Southern, but with Tueday's practice still at full speed, he was waiting to make final determinations on reserve rolls.
"Since tomorrow is the last day of any kind of tempo when it comes to putting pads on, where something might happen that might change our decision on a close race or something, it would probably be more than likely Wednesday before we start talking about scrimmage downs," Richt said.
Coaches will meet tomorrow, however, to determine most special-teams rolls, and Richt said that, regardless of any finalized decisions, the backups at the skill positions would receive significant playing time against Georgia Southern.
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5 comments:
What does "not his call" mean?
Knowshon doesn't seem like the kind of guy wanting to keep the green jersey on.
Other way around--Knowshon didn't want it on in the first place.
yeah, i think Richt was just trying to reiterate that all the green jersey decisions were made by the staff and not the players -- even Knowshon.
David, first of all I just wanted to say I really enjoy the blog.
Coach Richt's comments certainly don't seem too encouraging, though once the first game starts, all the off-season and pre-season stuff fades away...
I had two quick questions for ya, David. First off, I'm really surprised that Samuel has caught up with and maybe passed King for the #2 tailback, do you think Caleb is disappointing a little bit, or is Samuel just that good? Secondly, who do you see stepping up at D-End for us this year?
Re: Samuel -- I think he's just been that good. King has been injured and missed about a week of practice, so that I'm sure didn't help his cause, but players and coaches have been unanimous in their praise of Samuel. My guess, however, is that at year's end, King and Samuel both will have seem about the same amount of carries. Richt has never been afraid of a crowded backfield.
Re: the DEs -- There is a lot of talent there, but it's just hard to say because so few of them have had a chance to practice. My guess is Justin Houston begins the year as the starter, and I think he's got a good chance to be special, but expect plenty of snaps for Lomax and Dobbs, too.
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